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Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball franchise based in Washington D.C. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association. The team plays their home games at the Verizon Center, in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. 2010–present: The John Wall Era Leonsis completed his takeover of the Wizards and Verizon Center in June (through Monumental Sports and Entertainment). He had previously purchased the Washington Capitals and Mystics from the Pollin family.24 Leonsis has taken a fan-centric approach to running the franchise, by listening and responding to the concerns of Wizards supporters through his email and personal website.25 He has written a manifesto of 101 changes he hopes to implement during his ownership, including changing the team's colors back to the red, white and blue of the Bullets era, and possibly changing the team nickname back to 'Bullets' as well.25 Team President Ernie Grunfeld later confirmed that the franchise's colors would revert to red, white and blue from the 2011–12 season onwards.26 Despite having only the 5th-best odds of obtaining the No. 1 pick (10.3% overall), the Wizards won the 2010 NBA Draft lottery and selected All-American Kentucky point guard John Wall with the first overall pick.27 Later in the offseason, the team acquired the Chicago Bulls' all-time leader in three-point field goals, Kirk Hinrich and the draft rights to forward Kevin Seraphin in exchange for the draft rights to Vladimir Veremeenko. In a blockbuster trade, the Wizards sent Gilbert Arenas to the Orlando Magic in return for Rashard Lewis on December 18. Kirk Hinrich was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans, Mike Bibby, and a 2011 1st round pick that became Chris Singleton, although Mike Bibby bought out his contract after playing two games and eventually signed with the Miami Heat. The Wizards finished with a 23–59 record, once again occupying the Southeast Division cellar. On May 10, the Wizards unveiled a new color scheme, uniforms and logo. David Safren, Pat Sullivan, and Michael Glazer were the product designers for the new jerseys which include the Washington Monument in three of their logos. The team reverted to its traditional red, white and blue colors. The uniforms are based very closely on those worn during their glory years of the 1970s and early 1980s. Leonsis said the throwback to the old Bullets' uniforms was intentional; the new designs make no reference to theme of Wizards other than the actual name written across the home jersey. The colors were also used by Leonsis' other franchises, the Capitals and the Mystics, who reverted to those colors in 2007 and 2011, respectively. The Wizards' first season with their new look was an eventful one. After a poor start to the season, Head Coach, Flip Saunders was fired and Assistant Coach, Randy Wittman, was appointed as the new head coach.28 On March 15, the Wizards were involved in a three way trade that sent JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf to the Nuggets and Nick Young to the Clippers in exchange for Nenê and Brian Cook. After ending the season on a six game win streak, the Wizards finished with a record of 20-46 (season was shortened due to the 2011 NBA Lockout) and the second worst record in the NBA, comfortably ahead of the 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats who set a new NBA record for the lowest win percentage in a season with .106. The Wizards sent Rashard Lewis and a pick to the Hornets for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza. In the 2012 NBA Draft The Wizards selected Bradley Beal and Tomáš Satoranský. On July 17, 2012, the Wizards exercised the amnesty provision from the 2011 CBA to release Andray Blatche.29 They also signed A. J. Price. Then, on August 29, 2012, Martell Webster was signed to the Wizards for one year on a $1.6 million contract. He played above average for what he was signed for and had a .422 average for three pointers and a .442 field goal percentage. On Tuesday, May 21, 2013 the Wizards jumped up 5 spots in the NBA Draft Lottery to make the number 3 overall selection for the second year in a row. 30 Washington Wizards Roster Category:Eastern Conference